Fans powered by electric motors are commonly used to cool computer servers and other electronic equipment within an electronics enclosure. Existing electronics enclosure cooling fans have limited intelligence and provide little or no communication to an infrastructure controller capable of monitoring the electronics systems the fans are designed to cool. Therefore, existing fans lack the ability to be optimized for thermal performance, noise, power consumption, reliability, maintenance and warranty costs, and other relevant parameters.
In typical computing systems, including computer servers, multiple fans are required to maintain sufficient airflow to cool the electronics equipment within the enclosure. Further, the multiple fans must be able to operate effectively and harmoniously in conjunction with each other. Therefore, limited intelligence fans require substantial amounts of computational overhead to ensure the fans are operating to provide adequate cooling, and to detect fan failures before the electronics equipment overheats.